Sustainable touring is a pact between artists and audiences, but the best beneficiary? The environment. Let’s see how and why!
The sustainable touring, a “do re mi” for the well-being of the climate
Every mass event has an environmental impact, there’s no denying that. And live music is no exception. After all, world tours have traditionally been incompatible with respect for the ecosystem.
In this regard, many studies have shown that more than 90% of carbon emissions from live concerts come from travel. This includes the transport of staff, equipment and audiences. Hence the importance of getting artists in this field to commit to minimising the environmental impact of their stadium shows as much as possible. This article will cover precisely this. The importance of taking action and the possible actions that have proven to be a good thing.
But what exactly does a sustainable tour consist of?
This is certainly the first question that needs to be clarified. The answer is simple, in any case. It’s sustainable concerts, simply put, in the wake of a green strategy. In other words? Making live music, offering fun and spectacle, but always with a formula of recycling and awareness.
In this sense, the Green Touring Guide is presented as a focus of orientation and guidance for professionals in the music industry, in order to help them achieve this end. And why? Because in its guidelines, various ways to make a sustainable tour are proposed, seeking to reduce the pollution of the concerts.
According to this green route, it is in the event venue itself, in fact, where 34% of the pollution caused by a music tour takes place, in addition to the assembly and disassembly of the stage. And no less harmful to the environment is the movement of the public, which generates 33% of toxicity. Not to mention the band’s travel and accommodation, of course, at 9% and 10% respectively.
Not even merchandising or tour promotion are unscathed, with 12% for the former and 2% for the latter. So what does this all add up to? That a good and truly sustainable tour should always be managed with transfers and accommodation, food and beverage and materials in mind.
It can be said, in any case, that sustainable tours are more than a fact. A reality already applied in various realistic sketches. Like running the lights and audio and lasers and similar resources of the show with a unique and ecological mechanism. We are talking about an electric battery system that uses 100 percent renewable and efficient energy. This can be done with alternative fuels and electric vehicles, not to mention minimising waste.
A sustainable tour also means using clean energy, avoiding fossil fuels, and advocating for reusable biomaterials. An example of the latter? Sustainable pyrotechnics, biodegradable confetti, and environmentally friendly chemical explosives.
A list of green favours that includes the use of solar panels, setting up the show on a recycled steel stage, raising awareness about climate change… And even rewarding those who pollute the least for attending the concert.
From Radiohead to Coldplay: the importance of leading by example
The sustainable bet of a sustainable tour is not an unimaginable concept. In fact, many of the world’s biggest bands are already implementing it in their live shows, creating an era of musical ecology.
Pioneers of this environmental defence are the members of the band Massive Attack, who have been committed to curbing pollution at their live shows for two decades. In what way? By banning the use of single-use plastic at their concerts; by travelling by train whenever possible. And, if they have to travel, they inevitably resort to sustainable aviation fuel.
An example of sustainable touring is also practised by Radiohead, who took to the stage in 2008 with the “Carbon Neutral Tour”. What’s special about this band? Since then, they have only played in cities with a public transport system. The aim? To offer their fans the chance to leave their cars at home.
The famous British band Coldplay, on the other hand, can boast of having given the most sustainable tour in the history of live music to date. Between March 2022 and November 2023 they performed up to four live shows in Barcelona. The idea of concentrating on a single city, instead of distributing these live performances in other cities, prevented them from travelling more than necessary, with the consequent saving in pollution.
Under the title “Music of the Sphere World Tour”, the tour managed to gather more than 200,000 fans’ voices, succeeding wherever they put the spotlight. Their ecological secret? Beautifying the venue with bamboo decorations. Deploying recycling bins around the stadium. Installing water fountains so fans could refill their water bottles, and giving them LED wristbands at the start of the concert, which they returned at the end.
A sustainable tour that was also notable for reducing carbon emissions with the energy harvested from more than 15 electric bicycles and several kinetic dance floors, and, of course, by fulfilling a promise to plant a tree for every ticket sold. And, of course, thanks also to fulfilling a promise to plant a tree for every ticket sold. The result? A 47% reduction in carbon emissions by the band, according to calculations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which compared it to the group’s previous stadium tours.
A true ecological testimony that even the most famous music festivals have not hesitated to emulate. This is the case of Cruïlla, the International Festival of Barcelona, famous for being a meeting point for discovering new sounds and styles, as well as dancing to the music already known. An event that in 2014 opted to eliminate plastic from all its parties, replacing it since 2018 with biodegradable cups made from wheat.
No less interesting is the tactic of the Primavera Sound festival, based on collecting and sorting 78% of the rubbish left by its attendees. Visitors generate 222 grams of rubbish per head, according to the calculations of the event’s directors. So it has even more merit that they managed to recover 116,290 units of biodegradable cups, as happened in 2019. A recycling method that is, in short, a great example of the vanguard of the music industry worldwide.
Why the Environmental Solutions initiative is not eco-posturing
In short, to go for a sustainable tour is to take an important and substantive step towards a new era; not only musical, but also ecological. It is to renounce the superficial ecological make-up, and to publicly and openly implement containment measures. The goal? To establish a period of effective, positive and lasting recycling, in which major artists achieve carbon-neutral musical events.
